Kenrokuen Garden

The most famous attraction in Kanazawa is Kenrokuen—judged one of the three most beautiful landscaped gardens in Japan.

How to get to Kenrokuen

Kenrokuen can be reached on foot from the central Kohrinbo area of Kanazawa in about 15 minutes. If you’re set on catching the bus to Kenrokuen from Kanazawa Station, you can catch either the Kenrokuen Shuttle (which not surprisingly takes a more direct route) or the Kanazawa Loop Bus. The Kanazawa Loop Bus runs in two directions – both of which will get you to Kenrokuen. The “Right Loop” bus (clockwise direction) should get you there slightly quicker than the “Left Loop” bus. All buses (including regular municipal Hokutetsu buses) can be boarded at the Kanazawa East Gate Bus Terminal. Stops convenient to the gardens are RL7, LL9 and S8 (the letters stand for Right Loop, Left Loop and Shuttle respectively.) The fare for a single trip on any of the sightseeing buses is ¥200 for Adults and ¥100 for children.

Another option is using a share cycle. Depending on your speed, you can get to Kenrokuen in about 20 minutes. There is a bicycle docking station on the northwest side of the gardens. Other stations can be found on your phone’s map app.

The Kenrokuen+1 Ticket

While admission for just the garden is ¥310, for just an extra ¥190 you can get a Kenrokuen+1 ticket, which lets you choose one of the following options:

• Kanazawa Castle
• Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
• Ishikawa Prefectural History Museum
• Kaga Honda Museum or the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Tradiitional Arts and Crafts

You can only visit one, so you have to choose. If you haven’t already visited it, our recommendation is the castle, which is right next to Kenrokuen.